Broward Clerk of Courts Howard Forman told Broward County commissioners and some city officials earlier this week that red light camera enforcement does have court costs associated with it, that aren't being paid for by anyone right now.

He said there are 18 intersections in Broward that have the cameras now, and so far there've been about 1,400 tickets given, 370 of which were challenged.

By mid-summer, he forecasted, there would be cameras at 64 intersections, there would be 5,200 tickets given, and 1,316 of them would be challenged.

"So far we're handling them OK,'' he said, "because you don't have a lot of tickets coming in. If they do, we will have a burden.''

The courts are paid for by the state. He said he'd show the statistics to the state in hopes of getting some financial backup. Any support he can get from local politicians he said he'd appreciate. There's talk of asking that $2 of each ticket be given to the court system to pay for the new influx of cases.

A showdown on the red light camera issue is coming to county hall Tuesday.

Comments

What farce can you possibly be talking about? There is a statute in this state that permits camera enforcement of red light runners. That is not unusual lots of states have that. There is photo evidence in every case clearly showing the car going through a standing red light. If that is not the case then motorists have a right to appeal the citation. Nothing about this is unusual for for sure there isn't any farce involved. Stop for the damned light and you won't have a problem. Jeez.

@WhatFarce ---- How very trusting of you, you would make a good sheep. Just reach down and grab your ankles please, this is nothing unusual and a lot of states have this, so dont you worry....

its not like the private multi-national owned vendors (and our local/state govt) have any vested interest in issuing these citations.....not like they make a %cut of every citation issued......go back to sleep now...thanks

red light cameras are unconsitutional period.....what does a tow truck towing a car do when that light changes .or a person towing a boat ...its impossible for it to stop that quick and will only cause more harm then good....these politicians did this for income not safety and went out spent millions of dollars on equiptment and now need to justify the choice they made without getting a legal opinion before hand..they just keep wasting taxpayer money

Not too sure have heard the same (as Farce stated) however, I just can't comprehend that running a red light is a moving violation, there for the vehicle is in motion and needs a driver. The driver is issued the citation for running a red light (moving violation) not the vehicle. That's my concern! As for it being ok because this state and others have that clause, doesn't sit well with me. For this is all for revenue not for safety issues (jmo) good thing I don't run red lights cuz I will truly contest it and drag it out in the courts =} again jmo

If these cameras are so accurate why are the ones at the intersection of Hiatus Road & Taft Street in Pembroke Lakes always taking photos, sometimes when there are no cars crossing the intersection. They are a scam and I hope it costs more to buy & operate them than the money they might bring in.

The only good thing that we might come out of this is less union traffic cops on the road.

I don't understand how theses cameras improve safety. Drivers are too distracted and simply don't pay attention. You say cameras will get people to stop?? Look at the fact that there are many police officers on the street, yet people still speed. All the videos we see of the cameras are cars simply flying through the intersection, several seconds after the light is red... that doesn't show they are helping, it only shows proof that a crash occurred. My analogy: When your a victim of credit card theft your not responsible for the charges even though the card belongs to you.. why would you be responsible if the vehicle is registered to you, when anyone you know can borrow that vehicle. Prove its me before you charge me!

also the real problem is if we allow red light cameras whats next stop sign cameras...jay walking cameras....uturn cameras....we need cameras in our politicians offices that will save us a whole lot of money

Simple. They make you drive more carefully in order to avoid getting fined. Why don't more people commit crimes? Because they fear getting caught? What must we do when they stop caring is enforce more. It's simple, what kind of idiot question is that. Stop making excuses and don't go through standing red lights. How assinine is this conversation? You folks don't like it because you don't want to get caught but that's easy to avoid. Follow the law.

why can't they use the money they get from the tickets (like what, 75% profit? after the costs of printing and mailing the ticket) to pay the court fees? oh, that's right, this has nothing to do with safety and is all about making money. someone said "hey, we can add court fees to the fines and make even more money!". hell, let's add a processing fee, maintenance fee, installation fee, operation fee, county oversight fee, and a fee to cover the costs of making sure all the fees are paid. then having to pull up over the broad white line at the light because it's too far back to see around the corner will cost people $850.

Riding my Harley as the proper speed limited, on more than one occasion have broke traction braking to stop when a light in font of me turns yellow. Now, I might be able to have made it thru the intersection on the yellow, but now that here are more and more red light cameras around, I cannot run te risk of getting a ticket for a quarter of a second violation. I fear that one day I will hit a crease spot in the road and will wide up lying the bike down, or get hit from behind.

Red Light Cameras are a good thing !
The goal is to prevent accidents and save lives. After you get a ticket for running a red light you will think twice the next time you come to a red light. If you are not running red lights then you don't have to worry about the cameras.
OK, so you are not driving the car that gets the ticket, let’s say it is your child that is driving the car that runs a red light and you get the ticket. That is a great time to have a conversation with them about safety. Someone was driving the car during the time of the infraction.
Remember the light must be red before you cross the line, if it is yellow then you are not in violation.
Maybe fewer accidents will reduce the cost of EMS services.

Let me get this straight, the city is short on cash to pay the donut eating union cops so they enter into an agreement with Traffic Solutions {TSI}. to install traffic cameras that will generate a lot of revenue from the fines given to the city's citizens [in the name of safety of course]. Then the city will split the citizen's fine money with TSI. Very sweet, what could go wrong? Opps, it would cost too much for TSI to actually identify the driver, so the govt decides that they will just fine the owner instead which is much easier and cheaper and it dosen't matter where the $ comes from [ remember, this is in the name of public safety].

Now, the cops can relax in the comfort of the cool donut shop and not have to worry where their next pay raise is coming from or how their bloated pension system will continue to float while the tickets are written by a stinking automatic cameras. Great idea!!! Opps, who would have thought that the good citizens would revolt and contest the tickets by going to court?
Now the govt has to hire more judges and more prosecutors to extract the $ form the citizens. More overhead for the govt to pay but the same $ goes to TSI. Not to worry, the govt can simply raise the citizens taxes to offset the higher costs. Thats what govt is for isnt it???

Obviously those FOR the lights, do not drive these streets on a daily basis. If you did, you would understand that you cannot drive safely by stopping on a dime, especially if you drive a larger vehicle. If you have a slight bit of rain, the roads are like, ice. And EVERYONE cuts you off.

Our Government is taking over.
IT IS JUST ANOTHER WAY TO TAKE OUR MONEY.
If its for safety, why not just have the cameras and not issue the ticket, but send a notice to the titled owned of the vehicle.
I will contest these if I get one.

Why not compromise? Stop ticketing the right turn violators....leave that to the police. Continue to ticket the red light runners. If they contest and found guilty, have them pay court costs in addition to their fine. It would be a win-win situation. The cities would make money AND save lives!

Many people do not contest the ticket because they know they ran the red light. They don't know all the different technicalities that will throw out the ticket that lawyers do. They figure it is cheaper for them to pay the ticket than spend the time and money to fight the ticket. Remember there are no points assessed from a camera ticket because they cannot prove it was you behind the wheel, just that you are the registered owner of said vehicle. However if you run a red light and a police officer writes you a ticket, points are accessed for a moving violation.

I wish people would fight these more so the powers that be can see it is not so profitable and will discontinue them. Also a state congressman was looking to introduce a bill that would rescind the current statute and make it illegal. People should write their state congressmen and ask them to support this bill.

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Broward County is an unusually rich territory for political news. The Broward Politics blog is devoted to the politicians, the activists, the parties, the policies, the issues, the elections - in the county and its communities.

ANTHONY MAN is the Sun Sentinel’s political writer. Concentrating on local political people, parties and trends, he also covers state and national politics from a South Florida perspective. He's coordinating the Broward Politics blog with contributions from reporters throughout the county. Before moving to the Broward political beat, he covered politics and Palm Beach County government for the Sun-Sentinel, including touch-screen voting and the Supervisor of Elections Office. He's also covered municipal, county, state, and federal elections and made repeated reporting trips to Tallahassee for regular and special sessions of the Florida Legislature. He joined the Sun-Sentinel in 2002 after covering state and local politics in Illinois. Like so many others in South Florida, he's originally from a New York suburb (Rockland County).

BRITTANY WALLMAN covers Broward County and news. A 1991 University of Florida graduate, Wallman started her journalism career at the Fort Myers News Press. She and her husband Bob Norman have two young children -- Creed and Lily. Wallman was born in Iowa and spent half her childhood there, the remainder in Oklahoma. She has covered local government and elections her entire reporting career -- including covering the infamous 2000 recount here in the presidential election. (She has a Mason jar with a "hanging chad'' inside to prove it.)

LARRY BARSZEWSKI covers Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors. In the past, he has reported on Palm Beach County government and schools, aging and social issues, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and state legislative sessions. He wrote for the Denver Post, Bradenton Herald and Miami Herald before joining the Sun Sentinel in 1988. A Massachusetts native, he lives in Boca Raton with his wife, Maggie, and teenage daughters Jessica and Jackie.